#134 in Thriller
The Silent Patient
- 352
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
- NYT bestseller · 62 weeks on the list, peaked at #3
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Editor’s note Alex Michaelides, a screenwriter, studied psychotherapy and worked for two years in a secure unit for young people, which gave him the setting. Alicia Berenson stops speaking after shooting her husband; her only statement is a painting she titles Alcestis, after Euripides’ play about a wife who dies for her husband and returns from the dead in silence. It is best read without spoilers, as everything builds to the final twist.
About the book
The Silent Patient is a 2019 psychological thriller novel written by British–Cypriot author Alex Michaelides. The debut novel was published by Celadon Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers, on 5 February 2019. The audiobook version, released on the same date, is narrated by Louise Brealey and Jack Hawkins. The story is narrated by an English psychotherapist, Theo Faber, dealing with a patient who turns mute after murdering her husband. Upon its release, the book debuted on The New York Times Best Seller list at No. 1. It later won the Goodreads Choice Award 2019 in the Mystery and Thriller category.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.7 across 2,619 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 95% of the weight and the score stays at 7.7 — the Thriller average of 7.6 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.1 | 209 | 8% |
| Hardcover | 7.6 | 2.4K | 92% |
Reader voices
The most-liked reviews on Hardcover (credited to their authors).
“Realized it was awful after 50 pages, still read the next 275 because I was kinda hooked, only to be predictably disappointed by the end.”
“I´m surprised at the praise this book has gotten. I decided to read it because it´s present in every list I checked on GoodReads and the plot seemed interesting enough. As it turns out, it is just another book made at the expense of psychoanalysis…”
Frequently asked
How long is The Silent Patient?
It has 352 pages — shorter than 87% of the ranked books in Thriller.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Thriller — and a score of 7.7, the closest to this book.
